Hi gang, Last night laying there in bed with my mind just wandering here and there (luckily no particular worries at the moment ) I had an idea. Why not buy a new very nice sewing only machine and try to preserve my embroidery machine as long as possible? My emb. machine is from about 1995 and saw no action at all until 2004 when it was "really rode hard" almost every day since but I am happy to say never "put away wet". It's life expectancy is dwindling and the mother board is what's very likely to go out before too long. They're hard to find and virtually impossible to repair. Now I have to say I never would have gotten an embroidery machine to begin with. It was a terrific deal (long story) and used maybe 3-5 times so I got it. I've invested incredible amounts of time in the very steep learning curve that went along with the very expensive program I got for it and I've become quite knowledgable in the world of embroidery but it's never really been a passion with me. I seldom embroider anything for myself or for gifts I give. I do lots of names for people, logos and lettering jobs but I'm in no way going to pay thousands to buy another embroidery machine when this one fails. And then if I still want to do embroidery for other folks I'll replace it with a competent embroidery machine but not one of the crazy expensive ones.
I've looked at the Viking site and still need to check out the details. After being used to the prices of emb. machines I'm amazed that Viking's top of the line sewing only machine is but a mere $1600.00 (model Sapphire 875) or so compared to the top of the line Viking Designer Diamond embroidery machine at an obscene almost $8000.00 (and that's without the software that you "need" for the total experience - add another cool $1000.00! ) It's incredible, isn't it?
Now the nicest sewing machine is a Quilting machine and I've yet to check to see what that entails aside from larger harp area and quilt specific stitches I'm guessing. The next one down is the Sapphire 835 and goes for around $900.00. That's a big difference and I'm curious to find out the differences. As everyone here knows , I only dabble in quilting but I do expect that I'll do a bit from time to time. Is a quilt machine that specific that it overrides the needs of a regular sewist? I'll have to research and find some answers.
I'm thinking I'll stick with Viking in the hopes that there will be crossover accessories and notions. I suppose I can find that out too. So, I'll be doing a lot of research in the next coming days and weeks but any input at all is very, very welcome from my dear friends here on this wonderful board. TIA